: Fast and Furious 6
This is a strange film. My expectations were too high after the surprisingly decent (and first good film in the series) previous entry, but this one takes all the good stuff from that one and ruins it.
The basic plot seems fine — Dwayne Johnson’s policeman character offers the group full pardons to help catch a bad guy — except that the bad guy’s so over-the-top, a super-criminal James Bond type billionaire, that it’s absurd to think a crew of street racers could take him down. The whole car aspect is pretty much forgotten by this point, meaning the franchise has gone a billion miles from the original concept. (These are closer to the Ocean’s movies by now, elaborate cons and capers, and this one is more Bond.)
But the script can’t just stop there; instead we’ve got to convolute things with we-thought-she-was-dead Letty being part of the bad guy’s crew. And get this: she has amnesia! How’s that for a twist! Yeah, you didn’t see that coming. So original.
This storyline allows our heroes a chance to look soulful and act dramatic — and fail hilariously (believe it or not, Vin Diesel’s the best of the bunch, which should tell you something) — as well as include a bunch of action set pieces that are each more absurd than the previous one.
Nothing makes any sense and the ridiculous finale (which isn’t really the finale as the film just keeps on going and going and going) involves the crew trying to stop an airplane from taking off. They spend 20 minutes chasing it on what has to the be the world’s longest runway.
The whole thing is tiresome and cheesy, ludicrous to the extreme. There a few fun moments, some of the action is impressive from a “how-did-they-do-that” perspective, and a few oneliners are funny, but overall this just a loosely strung-together series of stunts with no rhyme or reason. I suppose if you’re a hardcore fan of the series you’ll find it fun, but if you thought other entries were poor, don’t get your hopes up for this one. A severe disappointment, so bad I doubt I’ll bother with Fast 7, which this film blatantly sets up.
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